


Hustle or Bust

by AvaRosier



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, not entirely canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 07:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4556340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvaRosier/pseuds/AvaRosier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam wants to pay Hayden back for the ruined shots. This forces a bit of creativity on his part.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hustle or Bust

“God, last night was so…so…”

“If you say ‘intense’, I will freaking hit you.”

“It was like something out of a YA novel-turned-movie, but I, the black gay boy, got to be the heroine.”

“Okay, I’ll bite. How so?”

“Well, there I was, in a darkened room, having the most erotic kiss of my life with a seriously hot dude, albeit one with nefarious intentions—“

“Seriously?”

“Sh! When all of the sudden, he’s being ripped away by a jealous werewolf—“

“Pretty sure Brett wasn’t jealous.”

“—and he gets injured saving my life, so I kneel before him and press my hands against his bloody wound—“

“More like you felt him up, since being a werewolf, he has super-healing powers.”

“You’re just determined to harsh my buzz today, aren’t you, Liam? What’s your damage?”

“I so regret watching that movie with you, it’s so old and weird. But I…kinda knocked into Hayden last night and spilled her tray of shots. Which means the $200 will be taken out of her paycheck. I said I’d pay her back.”

“Hey, _Heathers_ was one of the seminal teen movies of its day, don’t knock it! You got $200 lying around?”

“Well, _no_. But I’m trying to figure out some more side-jobs I could do.”

“Well, if Sinema hires underage kids under the table, I bet they’d take you on as one of those half-naked cage dancers.”

“ _Mason, no_!”

“Fine.  Hey! There’s lots of rich people in my neighborhood, why don’t you do odd jobs? Give them some sob story and all that?”

 

* * *

 

 

Mason draws up a battle plan for Liam, marking on a map which houses he should target. Knocking on strangers’ doors is really not Liam’s idea of a fun time, but he hates the thought of Hayden not having the money for whatever reason she had really needed it for more. So, Liam sucks it up and rings a few doorbells right after school when he’s supposed to be doing homework at Mason’s house.

The first house that bears fruit is occupied by an impeccably groomed stay-at-home mom in a cardigan and singlet set who tells Liam she’ll pay him $40 if he washes her Porsche sitting in the driveway. That sounds rather straightforward, so he agrees. He has a bucket full of soapy water and some kind of fancy wax to get him started.

It’s not bad work, and Liam has his iPod playlist spooled up as he tugs off his long-sleeved shirt and white tank and gets down to work. $40 would be 20% of what he owed Hayden. Well, with the $12 he’d had on him that night, it would put him at 25%.  Which was probably going to be higher than his grade on the Calculus pop quiz he was probably going to have tomorrow morning. When your teacher says ‘ _I cannot confirm nor deny whether there’ll be a pop quiz after this chapter_ ’, you don’t need werewolf hearing to know that there will be one.

It’s not long before he notices the itching between his shoulder blades; the sensation that he was being watched. Surreptitiously glancing over his shoulder, he realizes that Mrs. Holden is staring at him. Well, not him, exactly. His body. The slow once-over she’s giving him right now, practically licking her lips, has him groaning in disgust and shaking his head.

He puts his tank back on and curses his best friend. Forget werecougars, human cougars were scary enough.

 

* * *

 

 

 

“What about dogs?”

“What about them?”

“It’s a well known fact that people buy dogs all the time but can’t handle the actual responsibility of taking care of them. Did you know that six to eight million of dogs and cats are lost or abandoned in this country every year? Scott told me that yesterday. Hence, there are probably people who would _pay_ you to take them out on a walk. Also, you could do your jog at the same time, keep your mind clear.”

“Please don’t talk about my Alpha in such a dreamy voice. Well, as long as it wouldn’t involve peop—wait, what was that?”

“What was what?”

“That tone… _’keep your mind clear’_?”

“I…don’t think I had a tone?”

“Yeah. Yeah you did. Do you think my mind is muddled right now or something?”

“Well, now that you’ve brought it up…you’ve been a bit uptight and snappish lately. I’m not sure whether to get you in the gym or find you a link to a porno.”

“…”

 

* * *

 

 

 

Liam’s got a lot on his mind, alright? There are these creepy doctors swanning around turning kids into their freaky science experiments, his sophomore homework-load is a lot heavier, and no matter how much Hayden Romero glares at him, he couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Through Mason and Scott, he gets the phone number of an elderly lady who, against all sensible advice, had gotten a puppy that was too high-energy for her.  Mrs. Moats answers the door on Sunday afternoon and beams up at him, cradling a white terrier to her chest. Well, it might not go very fast, but Liam could still get in a good jog given that he was a puppy.

“The rest of the bridge club is here, they all brought leashes for you, sweetie.” Mrs. Moats informs him.

Wait, what?

There are a bunch of elderly women in Mrs. Moats’ living room, five of whom brought their pet dogs with them. Nobody had said a thing about more than one customer, and Liam doesn’t have the guts to ask them directly whether they’ll be paying him per dog or just $30 for the lot. He just smiles (though that might have been more of a wince) at Mrs. Moats and takes the leashes into two hands.

“Great!”

Except it sucks ass. Merlin, the white terrier, just wants to scramble off the path and explore every blade of grass in the park. Then there is the Great Dane, aptly named Brutus, who keeps chomping at the bit to run fast. The other four dogs are content to sniff each others’ butts. His patience with Merlin is nearing its end when he remembers he’s a freaking werewolf.

Glancing around for potential witnesses in the park, he bends over and makes eye contact with the panting dog and lets his eyes flash. “ _Obey_.” He growls, baring his teeth in what he hopes is a display of dominance.

Merlin stares up at him for a second, blinks, then pads forward and starts to hump his leg.

“Liam?” _Fuck his life_.

“Yes, Hayden?” She’s standing there in exercise clothing, obviously out on her own run. Liam totally doesn’t notice the way her skin is faintly glistening with sweat. She looks like she’s trying not to snicker at him.

“I didn’t know you were a dog person.”

“I’m really not.”

“Well they seem to like you well enough.” She says, eyeing the way Merlin is still humping his leg. He didn’t want to kick at the creature because given his temper, he might end up hurting the animal, and he didn’t actually want that. So he just stands there, humiliated.

"I'm doing someone a favor."

Hayden gives him a playful, teasing shrug as she starts to jog away. "I think they might owe you now, just for that. See you." 

He watches her go. He can admit that. Staring at her ass totally distracts him from the fact that Merlin has now _finished_ on his pants leg.

 

__

* * *

 

 

 

“You have the worst ideas, Mason!”

“Nothing’s stopping you from coming up with something on your own!”

“…”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. And besides if you want to keep up this pseudo courtship ritual of yours, you’re going to have to go big, Liam.”

“ _This is not a pseudo courtship ritual_!”

“Yell that a little louder, I don’t think the entire hall heard you. And besides Hayden told you not to bother paying her back, remember? Yet you’re still trying to prove to her that you’re noble. I think it’s adorable, actually.”

“You’re probably the only one. She still insists that she’s not going to forgive me for sixth grade and nothing will convince her I’m a good person. What? What was that sigh for?”

“I swear you straight people are so obtuse sometime. Look, this is a clear case of ‘ _the lady doth protest too much_ ’. Hayden’s trying to keep you at an emotional distance because she doesn’t want to admit she likes you. And I mean ‘like like’, in case you were confused—“

“I wasn’t, but thanks.”

“Just checking. She ran after you when you went to help Scott during his asthma attack. I mean, look at her face!”

“…you followed us and took pictures of Hayden watching me and Scott?”

“Well…yes. This is me being your flight attendant, Liam. Don’t question the method if it yields results.”

“She—she’s really smiling at me, isn’t she? And not in the ‘ _your pain gives me joy_ ’ kind of way. It’s cute.”

“So…you in?”

“Yeah, sure.”

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Just put the money in the lockbox. I’ve left you both with $20 in assorted bills and coins as change to start with. You’ll earn forty percent of whatever you make for the carnival tonight. Oh! Breath spray and some new tubes of lip balm, please don’t skimp on those.” The woman trills at them before sauntering away towards the Ferris wheel.

Liam just grinds his teeth together and reminds himself that he has no one to blame but himself for not asking Mason exactly what he would be doing that would 'get him rich in one night'. He supposes he should be lucky it didn’t involve prostitution.

Well, not exactly.

He just has to kiss a bunch of teenagers over a period of four hours (with breaks, thank god).

“I think if you stopped scowling, more people would be lining up for you, sweetie.” Lydia supplies unhelpfully from next to him. She proceeds to slather on a generous helping of lip balm, smack her lips, and smile at the first person holding out his $5 bill like an idiot. Well, at least he has Lydia to keep him company tonight.

The first person in his line is a nervously smiling freshman girl he recognizes from his school…Tabitha? Her cheeks are red, so Liam smiles kindly at her, takes her money, and leans over to press his lips lightly against hers. She flounces off to be surrounded by her giggling friends  who keep glancing his way and pointing.

Thank god he can’t get mono from this.

He does, however, have to deal with a variety of unpleasant things like several customers trying to slip him tongue, garlicky breath, and at one point, wandering hands. But his stack of cash grows to $100 in the first half hour, $40 of which is his. By the end of his four hour shift, he should make a shitton of money. Pay back Hayden and have plenty left over to buy himself some new pants to replace the ones he’d burnt after they’d been violated by a tiny dog. Maybe buy some new video games…

Take someone to the movies…

“Liam.” He’s startled out of his daydream, having just kissed a guy while on autopilot. Liam stands there dumbly for a moment and stares at Hayden as he holds the folded $5. “From dogs to making out with strangers…you certainly get around.”

There’s a strange, indescribable quality to her voice and he can’t decipher her expression to figure out what she’s thinking. He certainly isn’t thinking because what comes out of his mouth is:

“Yeah, well, I won’t owe you any money after tonight, so…” He shoves the bill into the lockbox and slams it shut. Hayden’s eyes flash dangerously, which only thrills him, and her lips press tightly together in a way he’s come to recognize as anger.

“I told you not to worry about the money.”

“Well, I am. Maybe you want to tell yourself you hate my guts and me not paying you back gives you a great excuse. I don’t care. I’m going to pay you back the full $200 and you’re just going to have to deal.” He drops his ultimatum between them like a gauntlet. The lines for both him and Lydia are watching with undisguised fascination.

Hayden certainly seems to notice them, her eyes darting from side to side before she shrugs with false carelessness. “Fine. Do whatever you want.”

He rarely gets to see her this flustered, or on the defensive. “Are you going to buy a kiss or get out of the line?” He challenges.

To his surprise, Hayden arches her eyebrows and fishes out a $5 bill and slaps it down on the table. “I’ll be taking a kiss.” Okay, he was _not_ expecting her to call him on his bluff, but he can’t lie and say he hasn’t thought about it. Often. More than kissing, too.

But instead of stepping closer and leaning across the counter, she moves in front of Lydia and reaches out to cup her face. Lydia is just clever and evil enough to bat her eyes and go along with it. Liam just stands there as Hayden proceeds to kiss Lydia until she was nearly falling over in those heels of hers.

Once Hayden finishes and stands back, she shoots Liam a look that screams ‘ _fuck you_ ’, and saunters off. There’s even applause in her wake. Dimly, Liam hears Lydia mutter something dazedly about “I _did_ say I was so over teenage boys.”

He keeps watching until she glances over her shoulder and smiles a degree more playfully at him. He grins back. Oh yeah, it was so on.

 

* * *

 

 

“I’m just saying, I should get a cut.”

“That would make you my pimp.”

“And I would be a stylish one with great business acumen.”

“Give me your phone for a sec.”

“Why?”

“You owe me. Just let me see it for a mo.”

“Fine. Here.”

 _Tap tap tap. Tap. Tap tap tap_.

“What are you doing?”

“Being…a…good…bro. Okay, there you go.”

“What did yo—oh. my. god. ‘ _Hey Brett this is Liam if I give Mason $30 will u let him spend it on u like u were his sugar baby_?’ YOU SON OF A B- oh he said ‘ _okay_ ’. He said ‘ _okay_ ’!”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Liam is having a great day on Monday. He’s whistling softly to himself as he strolls through the main doors of Beacon Hills High School. He exchanges a fist bump with one of the guys from the Lacrosse team. Jerks his chin and smiles at a group of giggling freshman girls.

Hayden’s there, at her locker practically next to his. Now, if that isn’t serendipity, he doesn’t know what is.

“Hey Hayden.” He rolls up to his locker, starts sliding the dial back and forth until the right combination has it giving away.

“Hello, Liam.” She says evenly, sparing him a brief glance before staring studiously ahead at the order of her textbooks.

He sets the roll of $120 right on top of her purple binder he recognizes from History class. “Debt paid in full.” Does he sound overly smug? Probably. But he can’t stop grinning at her, so much that his face already hurts.

“Great. Consider it all forgotten. Thanks.” She shoves the money into her purse and lets her hair fall in front of her face, hiding her from him.

Liam swallows against his nerves and takes a deep breath before sliding the stiff, rectangular piece of paper on top of the purple binder. He’s pretty sure his heart stops beating for the entire ten seconds it takes Hayden to reach for it and hold it up to her scrutiny.

“Is…is this a ticket to Beyonce’s concert?” She whips around to face him then, her excitement overtaking her.

“Yeah. If that’s your kind of thing.”

“Shut up, you know it is.” She’s stroking the ticket like it’s precious. “Why are you giving it to me?”

He shrugs then. “I don’t know. Maybe I thought you’d like to come, too.”

Hayden scrunches her forehead but doesn’t stop smiling. “So you’ll be there?”

“Yep. Me and Mason. And Brett and his sister Lori.  And Scott and Lydia…Malia and Kira.”

“Oh, is that all?” Liam held his tongue on that. So, basically his entire pack and then some would be chaperoning this not-date? He was trying to be optimistic and tell himself that  them being there would only keep him from embarrassing himself.

“Yeah.”

Her lips twist as she considers his proposal. “Okay. I’ll go. And Liam?”

“Hm?”

“This kind of makes up for the sixth grade.”

He could have done a fist pump into the air right then. Instead, he gives her what he hopes is a casual nod and shoulders his backpack, shutting his locker.

“See you in Bio.”

“Yeah, see you.”

 

He can’t help turning back to grin at Hayden’s profile as he walks away, which accounts for him not seeing where he’s going. The ground falls away from his feet and he finds himself slamming into cold concrete with a loud groan. Everything’s dark around him and when Liam stares up seven feet to the opening above, he sees the familiar face of the school’s janitor—Bruce—peering through the opening.

“Damn, son, do you like spending your time in holes or something?” He blusters, his voice echoing on the pipes down there under the floor. Some kind of maintenance tunnel, it seems.

Liam sees Hayden bend over the opening, frowning in concern.  _Fuck my life_ , he thinks, collapsing back on the concrete.

“Yeah, apparently.”


End file.
